Data Collection system

ABSTRACT

A data collection system that is attachable to an optical fiber splicer and is connectible to the splicer&#39;s serial port and/or video output. The device captures text data from the serial port and stores this data along with digitized video images of the fibers before, during, and/or after the splice. This data may be stored on a high-capacity storage medium, which may be removable. The date, time, and/or other external data may be recorded as well. The record of each splice is uniquely identified by a serial number or other indicium that is labeled on the splice. This serial number may be read into the data collection device by a laser scanner or optical wand. This device may also interface with a computer and may have full handshaking and a faster, better configured serial port connection than the splicer itself. Advantages of the data collection system include providing remote access of splice data, accountability for defective or problematic splices, and more efficient troubleshooting.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed generally to optical fiber splicing,and particularly to an apparatus for use with an optical fiber splicerand for capturing and retrieving data associated with a splice.

BACKGROUND

Many optical fiber systems today require splicing of optical fibersegments. Such splicing is conventionally achieved in many ways, such asusing mechanical splices or fusion splices.

When manufacturing a fusion splice, it is important that the two fiberends that are to be fused together are precisely aligned with eachother. Although in practice some misalignment cannot always be avoided,any significant misalignment may cause an unacceptably high optical lossto be provided by the splice. Further optical loss and other defects mayalso be incurred due to other problems with the manufacturing of afusion splice, such as an incorrect fusing temperature, an incorrectduration of the fusion, and an unclean work area where the splice ismade (e.g., foreign particles from the air that are absorbed into thefused area may increase the optical loss).

Once a splice is manufactured and installed in an optical fiber system(e.g., an optical fiber network), it may be desirable to know certaininformation about the splice, such as the optical loss produced by thesplice, the cleave angle of the splice, and generally the quality of thesplice and other manufacturing-related information. It would bedesirable to have access to such information in order to provideaccountability as to the source of a particular splice and/or as to thecause of a possible defect in a particular splice. Such accountabilitywould reduce the cost and time required to discover specific problemswith a manufacturing process and/or installation process and to reduceor eliminate such problems. Such accountability of splice source andquality would also be useful since splice operators are often rated onthe quality of splices that the operators manufacture.

Unfortunately, there are not presently available any methods orapparatus for collecting and storing information associated with splices(splice data), or for providing access to splice data, in order todetermine particular splice characteristics and to trace back the sourceof the manufactured splice. Should a splicer operator not perform his orher job properly, or should an otherwise acceptable splice be latersabotaged or otherwise damaged, there is presently no satisfactory wayto determine the manufacturing source of the splice, or whether aparticular splice was manufactured properly but was later sabotaged ordamaged after the manufacturing process. Accordingly, there is a needfor an apparatus and method for providing accountability as to themanufacturing source and quality of individual splices.

One reason that no such systems presently exist is that splicescurrently are not uniquely identifiable. In other words, splicescurrently are not associated with a unique identifier or indicium (suchas a serial number). Although some optical fiber cables have beenuniquely identified, splices are not. However, without providing uniqueidentification of splices, it would be nearly impossible to store splicedata in such a way as to provide the desired accountability discussedabove. Accordingly, there is a need for the unique identification ofsplices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various aspects of the present invention solve at least the problemsdescribed above. For example, according to aspects of the presentinvention, a data collection system may be used for collecting andstoring splice data associated with splices. The data collection systemmay be connectible to a splicer such that data associated with themanufacture of the splice can be transferred to the data collectionsystem for storage, analysis, and later retrieval. Splice data that maybe transferred to and stored by the data collection system (and/orgenerated by the data collection system) may include, but is not limitedto, an indicium (such as a serial number or other identifying data) thatuniquely or semi-uniquely identifies the splice, the splice program usedto create the splice, the date and/or time of manufacture of the splice,the place that the splice was manufactured, the splice type, the fusiontemperature used to create the splice, the fusion time, the operator'sidentity, the identity of the splicer, the anticipated or actualinstallation location of the splice in an optical fiber system, an imageof the splice, and/or any cross-referenced splice indicia may beprovided via the input device.

Once the splice data is stored and appropriately organized by the datacollection system, the splice data may be later retrieved for thepurposes of providing accountability as to the source of themanufactured splice.

Accountability is facilitated when each splice has an associated spliceindicium that uniquely or semi-uniquely identifies the splice. Thesplice indicium may be or include, e.g., text, numbers, alphanumerictext, a symbol or symbol combination, bar coding, a pattern, graphics, ashape, a picture, an image, a holographic image, braille, a signature, atrademark, a color or color combination, a marking, an engraving and/orrelief, an icon, a texture, and/or data within a memory of an electronicmemory device such as a micro-chip. According to aspects of the presentinvention, each splice may have a label on which the splice indicium isprinted. What is important is that the splice indicium identify eachparticular splice having such splice indicium, either uniquely (i.e.,completely unique amongst all splices) or semi-uniquely (i.e., uniquewithin a particular group or sub-group of splices).

Accordingly, some aspects of the present invention are directed to anapparatus for receiving splice data for each of a plurality of opticalfiber splices, each of the plurality of optical fiber splices beinguniquely identified by at least one of a plurality of splice indicia,the apparatus comprising a data interface for receiving the splice data;and a data storage device coupled with the data interface, for receivingthe splice data and the splice indicia from the data interface and forstoring the splice data and the splice indicia.

Further aspects of the present invention are directed to an apparatusfor selecting splice data for an optical fiber splice based on aselected splice indicium from a plurality of unique splice indicia, theselected splice indicium uniquely identifying the optical fiber splice,the apparatus comprising a input data interface for receiving theselected splice indicium; a data storage device coupled with the inputdata interface for storing the splice data and the plurality of spliceindicia; a processor coupled with the data storage device for retrievingfrom the data storage device the splice data associated with theselected splice indicium; and an output data interface for outputtingthe splice data.

Still further aspects of the present invention are directed to a methodfor storing splice data and splice indicia associated with optical fibersplices, the method comprising the steps of splicing a plurality ofoptical fiber portions together to create a plurality of optical fibersplices; generating splice data for each of the optical fiber splices;assigning each of the optical fiber splices a splice indicium from aplurality of unique splice indicia; and storing the splice data and thesplice indicia in a storage device.

Still further aspects of the present invention are directed to a methodfor retrieving splice data for an optical fiber splice based on aselected splice indicium from a plurality of unique splice indicia, theselected splice indicium uniquely identifying the optical fiber splice,the method comprising the steps of selecting the selected spliceindicium; inputting the selected splice indicium to an input device;retrieving from a storage device coupled to the input device the splicedata associated with the selected splice indicium; and outputting datarepresenting the splice data.

Still further aspects of the present invention are directed to anoptical fiber splice comprising a first optical fiber segment and asecond optical fiber segment, the first and second optical fibersegments being coupled together for optical communication therebetweenat a splice location within the splice; and an indicium for uniquelyidentifying the optical fiber splice.

Still further aspects of the present invention are directed to a methodfor manufacturing an optical fiber splice, the method comprising thesteps of splicing optical fiber portions together at a splice locationto create the optical fiber splice; and labeling the optical fibersplice with an indicium that uniquely identifies the optical fibersplice.

These and other features of the invention will be apparent uponconsideration of the following detailed description of preferredembodiments. Although the invention has been defined using the appendedclaims, these claims are exemplary in that the invention is intended toinclude the elements and steps described herein in any combination orsubcombination. Accordingly, there are any number of alternativecombinations for defining the invention, which incorporate one or moreelements from the specification, including the description, claims, anddrawings, in various combinations or subcombinations. It will beapparent to those skilled in optical fiber technology, in light of thepresent specification, that alternate combinations of aspects of theinvention, either alone or in combination with one or more elements orsteps defined herein, may be utilized as modifications or alterations ofthe invention or as part of the invention. It is intended that thewritten description of the invention contained herein covers all suchmodifications and alterations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary of the invention, as well as the followingdetailed description of preferred embodiments, is better understood whenread in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are includedby way of example, and not by way of limitation with regard to theclaimed invention. In the accompanying drawings, elements are labeledwith three-digit reference numbers, wherein the first digit of areference number indicates the drawing number in which the element isfirst illustrated. The same reference number in different drawingsrefers to the same element.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a first exemplary embodiment of adata collection system according to aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a chart of an exemplary set of data that may be storedaccording to aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of another exemplary embodiment of adata collection system according to aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a spliceaccording to aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of a spliceaccording to aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of a spliceaccording to aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of a spliceaccording to aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of a spliceaccording to aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of a spliceaccording to aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of asplice according to aspects of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary embodiment of a data collection system100 according to aspects of the present invention is shown to beconnected to a splicer 150. The data collection system 100 preferablyincludes a data interface 101 for receiving and/or transmitting data, adata storage device 102 for storing data, a processor 103 forcontrolling data flow, controlling the selection, retrieval, and/orstorage of data, and/or controlling various operations of the datacollection system 100, a battery/power source 104 for supplying power tothe various portions of the data collection system 100, an antenna 105or other wireless interface, a clock 106, an input device 120, and/or anoutput device 123. The data collection system 100 may be fully orpartially encased in a housing 107.

The splicer 150 may include an interface 151, a processor 152, a videocamera 153 and/or other video input device, splicing apparatus 154 forsplicing optical fiber cables, and/or other sensors 155 for determininginformation concerning a splice, such as optical loss of the splice.

The data interface 101 of the data collection system may be permanentlyconnected, or removably connectible, with the interface 151 of thesplicer, an input device 120, and/or a computer 121. The variousconnections to the data interface 101 of the data collection system maybe in any physical format (e.g., electrical, optical, wireless, etc.)and data format (e.g., digital, analog, serial, parallel, framed,packetized, synchronous asynchronous, etc.). In one embodiment, the datacollection system 100 may include a splicer input interface andconnected to the splicer 150 as shown in FIG. 1. There may be one ormore signal connections between the data collection system 100 and thesplicer 150. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, two signal connections175, 176 are used, one for transferring image data associated with avideo image of a splice, and the other for transferring other data(e.g., text and/or numerical data) associated with the splice. However,a single signal connection for transferring both the image data and anyother data, or any other combination of signal connections, may be used.

The data storage device 102 may be any type of data storage device andmay include any permanent and/or removably connectible storage medium(wherein data is stored on the removable storage medium). For example,the data storage device 102 may include a magnetic and/or optical diskdrive, a magnetic and/or optical hard drive, a ZIP drive, a magnetictape drive, memory (e.g., a random-access memory), a removable memorycard, a video cassette recorder, and/or any other data storage deviceand/or medium appropriate for storing data.

The processor 103 may be embodied in any form, and may include one ormore central processing units, computers, controllers, and/or any otherdedicated or non-dedicated circuitry or other device for controllingdata flow, controlling the selection, retrieval, and/or storage of data,and/or controlling various operations of the data collection system 100.The processor 103 may preferably be configured to select portions ofsplice data related to splice indicia.

The battery/power source 104 may include a permanent or replaceablebattery or bank of batteries, a rechargeable or non-rechargeable batteryor bank of batteries, a solar array, and/or any other device for storingand supplying power.

The input device 120 may include a button, keyboard/keypad, mouse, lightpen, digitizer, optical scanner, optical wand, electromagneticprobe/wand, bar code reader, optical character recognizer, voicerecognition device, microphone, touch-sensitive pad, video camera, videoimage recognizer, and/or any other automatic and/or manual input deviceappropriate for reading and/or receiving a splice-identifying spliceindicium. The input device 120 may also be used by an operator/user forcontrolling operations of the data collection system 100. One or more ofthe input devices 120 may be coupled to the interface 101 of the datacollection system 100.

The computer 121 may be may include one or more central processingunits, computers, controllers, and/or any other dedicated ornon-dedicated circuitry or other computing device. The computer 121 mayfurther include and/or may be connected to a data storage device 122.The data storage device 122 may include a magnetic and/or optical diskdrive, a magnetic and/or optical hard drive, a ZIP drive, a magnetictape drive, memory (e.g., a random-access memory), a video cassetterecorder, and/or any other data storage device and/or medium appropriatefor storing data. The data storage device 122 may store any or all ofthe information that may be stored in the data storage device 102 of thedata collection system.

The output device 123 may be any device suitable for presenting dataand/or other information to a user and/or to another device such as acomputer. For example, the output device 123 may include a display (suchas an LED display, an LCD display, a television screen, a video monitor,a fluorescent display, and/or a plasma display), a speaker, apiezo-electric audio output device, an electrical data output portand/or interface, an optical data output port and/or interface, and/oran electromagnetic wave data output port and/or interface with anantenna. One or more output devices 123 may be coupled to the interface101 of the data collection system 100.

In operation, the data collection system 100 may be used to collectsplice data associated with splices. According to one embodiment of amethod for collecting and/or using splice data, an operator or user mayconnect the data collection system 100 to the splicer 150. Splicerscurrently exist that collect and provide various forms of splice data.For example, the Ericsson FSU925PMA splicer has a serial port and avideo output port for providing various data related to the manufactureof a splice.

The user may select a particular splice program for the splicer 150 tofollow, create a splice of an optical fiber cable using the splicer 150,and manually or automatically take measurements of the splice todetermine whether the splice meets certain quality standards. Suchmeasurements may be taken immediately before, during, and/or immediatelyafter the splice is created. For example, the splicer 150 may generatean image (such as a video image) of the splice immediately after thefusing of the optical fiber cables using a video camera 153. The imagemay be a still or a moving image and may be, e.g., about 1 MByte ofimage data per splice. Preferably, and in order to obtain the mostinformation from the image, the image may be taken while the fusionpoint is still hot. An advantage of creating and storing the image datais that such an image often will show whether there is dirt or otherforeign particles in the splice (caused, e.g., by a dirty work area)that could cause optical loss and other problems with the splice. Itcannot be determined from the estimated loss alone whether such foreignparticles exist in a splice. Further, the splicer 150 may determinecharacteristics of the splice such as the estimated optical loss of thesplice and/or the cleave angle of the splice using the video camera 153and/or other sensors 155.

If it is determined that the splice does not meet quality standards, thesplice may be discarded, and a new splice may be created and measured asdescribed above. If the splice meets quality standards, the measurementstaken and/or any other splice data may be transferred to the datacollection system 100. Alternatively, the measurements and any othersplice data may be always sent to the data collection system 100,whereupon the data collection system may discard or store separately thedata associated with a splice that is determined not to meet qualitystandards.

The splicer 150 may transfer splice data (e.g., all or part of the imagedata, the estimated loss, and/or the cleave angle of the splice) to thedata collection system 100 via the signal connections 175, 176 andreceived by the data interface 101. The splice data may be in any dataformat and may be analog and/or digital. For example, the datacollection system 100 may receive ASCII text data from the splicer 150in RS-232 serial format, and video data from the splicer 150 in MPEGformat or other standard video format.

Additional splice data may be provided via the input device 120. Forexample, a splice indicium that uniquely identifies the splice, thesplice program used to create the splice, the date and/or time ofmanufacture of the splice, the place that the splice was manufactured,the splice type (which may be defined by the splice program), the fusiontemperature used to create the splice (which may also be defined by thesplice program), the fusion time (which may also be defined by thesplice program), the operator's identity, the identity of the splicer150 or the splicing apparatus 154, the anticipated installation locationof the splice in an optical fiber system (“installed location”), thecustomer for whom the splice was created or installed, and/or anycross-referenced splice indicia may be provided via the input device120. In some embodiments of the present invention, the input device 120may include a bar code reader, wherein the manufactured splice may havea label with bar coding that uniquely or semi-uniquely identifies thesplice (as discussed in more detail below), and the bar coding may beread using the bar code reader and stored in the data storage device102.

Additionally or alternatively, some or all of the splice data may beprovided automatically from the splicer 150 via the signal connections175, 176. Further, the date and/or time of manufacture may beautomatically provided by the clock 106 in the data collection system100 (and/or in the splicer 150).

Any or all of the above-described splice data may be transferred to thedata storage device 102, the computer 121, the data storage device 122via the computer 121, and/or the output device 123 for viewing by theoperator. Transferring of splice data between the data collection system100 and the computer 121 may allow for full handshaking and a faster,better-configured connection (e.g., a serial port connection) than withthe splicer 150. Accordingly, the splicer 150 may alternatively beconnected to the data collection system 100 via the computer 121.

The operator may manipulate some or all of the splice data and/or theoperations of the data collection system 100 and/or the splicer 150using the input device 120. Further, any or all of the splice data maybe selectively and/or automatically deleted, archived to long-termstorage, and/or transferred between the data collection system 100 andanother device such as a computer, and/or between the data collectionsystem 100 and another data collection system.

Upon receiving some or all of the splice data, the data storage device102 and/or 122 may store the splice data in any format suitable forconvenient retrieval at a later time. As it would be useful to retrievesplice data for a particular splice, it is preferable to associate thesplice data with the particular splice to which the data belongs. Forexample, for each splice, the data storage device may store the splicedata and the splice indicium in a unique data record. Further, the datastorage device may index the splice data by splice indicium, and/or adatabase having access to the data storage device may be configured toaccess splice data according to splice indicium.

One exemplary embodiment of how splice data may be organized in the datastorage device 102 and/or 122 is shown in FIG. 2. The table in FIG. 2represents one way to organize and index data in the data storage device102 and/or 122. There are many ways to organize the splice data in orderto be conveniently retrievable, depending upon the user's desires andthe storage capacity of the data storage device. For example, the datacategories (represented by the separate columns of splice data in thetable) shown in FIG. 2 may be stored in a different order, there may besome data categories omitted, and/or there may be additional datacategories. In some embodiments, the splice data may be stored andindexed using a database application. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the datawithin the various categories of splice data are indexed by spliceindicium. For example, splice no. 31B05 (an example of an alphanumerictext indicium wherein any of the digits may be a number or a letter) hasan associated image data 201, estimated loss of 0.09 dB, cleave anglesof 0.21 and 0.32 degrees, and date/time of manufacture of Feb. 25, 1999at 11:53 am. One may also determine from the data as stored in the datastorage device and as shown in FIG. 2 that splice no. 31B05 was createdby operator Jones and is installed at location 103-A1-B23. Of course,any of the splice data shown in the table of FIG. 2 (and stored in thedata storage device 102) may be in any format as is convenient ornecessary.

Some or all of the splice data may be partitioned within the datastorage device 102 and/or 122 to separate splice data associated withone optical fiber system from splice data associated with anotheroptical fiber system. Further, some or all of the splice data may beencrypted and/or secured such that the secured splice data isretrievable only upon entry of an authorization code. There may be adifferent authorization code for each partition. In this way, certaindata may be accessible only by authorized users. This may be requiredfor some governmental uses and by some customers.

FIG. 3 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a data collection system300. The data collection system 300 may include a bar code reader 301(and/or any other input device such as the input device 120), a datainterface 302, an antenna 105 (and/or other wireless interface), adisplay 304, a memory 305 (e.g., one or more memory chips such as a RAM,and/or any other data storage device), a processor 103, a battery/powersource 104, and/or an input device 308. The data collection system 300may be partially or fully encased in a housing 310. Preferably, the datacollection system 300 is made to be portable enough to be hand-carriedby a person. For example, it would be preferable to manufacture the datacollection system 300 to be no more than, e.g., five pounds, and/or nomore than the volume of a standard laptop personal computer. Ideally,the data collection system 300 may be made small enough to be suitableas a hand held device.

As will be described below, this embodiment of the data collectionsystem 300 may be used instead of, or in conjunction with, the datacollection system 100. The embodiment of the data collection system 300as shown in FIG. 3 is even more portable than the embodiment of the datacollection system 100 shown in FIG. 1. It may be desirable in someinstances to have a data collection system 300 that is portable enoughto carry on site (e.g., hand carried by a technician when visiting anoptical fiber system site).

The exemplary data collection system 300 may thus include the memory 305instead of a relatively heavy or bulky high-capacity data storage deviceof another type. In such a case, splice data and/or other data may bestored in and/or retrieved from the data storage device 122. This allowsa user of the data collection system 300 to work remotely (e.g., on siteat an optical fiber system installation) from the bulk storage of datato which the user may need access. The data collection system 300 may beconfigured to selectably download into the memory 305 from the datastorage device 122 only that portion of the splice data that isanticipated to be needed for a particular day and/or location. Forexample, prior to visiting a particular optical fiber system site, thetechnician may download only the splice data that is associated withsplices in that particular optical fiber system. Thus, the memory 305does not need to be large enough to hold all splice data, therebyallowing the data collection system 300 to be relatively small andlightweight. In such sub-embodiments, the data interface 302 may includean external storage device interface configured to receive at least aportion of the splice data and the splice indicia from the storagedevice 122, and such splice data and splice indicia may be transferredto the memory 305.

Further, a user of the data collection system 300 may enter additionaldata using the input device 308 while on site and store that additionaldata in the memory 305 for later processing and/or permanent storage.For example, the user that works with the particular optical fibersystem mentioned above may enter additional data associated with one ormore particular splices, and that data may be later or immediatelyuploaded to the computer 121 and/or data storage device 121. Suchuploading of data, downloading of data, data retrieval, and/or othercommunications with external devices may be accomplished via the antenna105 and/or via any other wired and/or wireless connection. If theantenna 105 is used, the data collection system 300 (or 100) and thecomputer 121 may be in communication with a cellular telephone and/orpager network. In such a case, data may be transferred over the cellularnetwork. Additionally or alternatively, a simple radio frequencytransmission may be used directly between the data collection system 300(or 100) and the computer 121.

The data interface 302 may be configured to receive and/or send data.For example, the data interface 302 may include an input data interfacefor receiving splice indicia, and/or an output data interface foroutputting a selected portion of splice data. Further, the datainterface 302 may include any other configuration of data interface suchas an electronic memory device input interface (which may be connectibleto an electromagnetic probe) for reading splice indicia from the memoryof an electronic memory device, as further described below. Further, thedata interface 302 may include a data port for outputting datarepresenting splice data.

As discussed above, any of the embodiments of the data collection system100, 300 of the present invention may be used for collecting andaccessing splice data. The splice data preferably is indexed by splicenumbers or other splice indicia. As will be discussed below withreference to FIGS. 4-10, each splice (or group of splices) may beuniquely associated with a splice indicium. It is desirable tophysically label each splice with its associated splice indicium so thateach splice may be easily identified by sight and/or using alabel-reading device.

In operation, the data collection system 300 may be used to selectivelyretrieve splice data associated with a particular splice. A user of thedata collection system 300 may input a selected splice indicium thatuniquely identifies that particular splice (e.g., using a keypad, thebar code reader 301, or any other input device 308. The processor 103may access the memory 305 and/or the storage device 122 to retrievesplice data therefrom that is associated with the splice indicium (e.g.,splice data that is in the same data record as the splice indicium). Forexample, a user may use the bar code reader 301 to scan in the spliceindicium “31B05.” Responsive to splice indicium 31B05 being scanned in,splice indicium 31B05 may be sent through the interface 302 to theprocessor 103 in the data collection system 300. The processor 103 mayaccess the memory 305 and/or the storage device 122 to retrieve thesplice data associated with splice indicium 31B05. Referring to FIG. 2,that splice data that is retrieved may include, e.g., image data 201, anestimate optical loss of 0.09 dB, a cleave angles of 0.21 and 0.32degrees, a splice program of 1, a date/time of manufacture of Feb. 25,1999 at 11:53 a.m., an operator of Jones, a splicer number of 2, aninstalled location of 103-A1-B23, and a cross reference of spliceindicia 31B04 and 31B06.

Upon retrieval of the splice data associated with the selected spliceindicium, the data collection system 300 may display via the display304, or otherwise output, some or all of the retrieved splice data.Multiple splice indicia may also be entered and processed in the sameway.

Although the above description of operation is discussed with regard tothe data collection system 300, the same operations may also beperformed using the data collection system 100 of FIG. 1. Alternatively,the data collection system 100 and the data collection system 300 may beused together. In such an arrangement, the data collection system 100may be used for the collection of splice data from the splicer 150, andthe data collection system 300 may be used for the selective retrievalof splice data according to a selected splice indicium. To allow thesplice data collected by the data collection system 100 to be used bythe data collection system 300, the data collection system 300 may beconnected to the data collection system 100 (e.g., via a connectionbetween data interfaces 101 and 302) so that splice data is transferredbetween the two systems. The data collection system 300 may then bedisconnected from the data collection system 100 so that it is moreportable. Alternatively, the data collection system 100 may transfer thecollected splice data to the storage device 122 so that the datacollection system 300 may later retrieve some or all of the splice datastored in the storage device 122.

An exemplary embodiment of a splice 400 having a label with asplice-identifying splice indicium is illustrated in FIG. 4. Two or moreoptical fiber segments 401, 402 may be spliced together usingconventional methods such as fusion splicing. The optical fiber segments401, 402 are typically made up of an optically transmissive coresurrounded by a protective cladding. The fusion point, or splicelocation (e.g., splice location 701 shown in FIG. 7), between the twosegments 401, 402 may be protected by an inner sleeve 403 (which may be,e.g., thermoplastic tubing) encircling the splice location, and/or anouter sleeve 404 (which may be, e.g., heat shrinkable tubing) encirclingthe inner sleeve 403. A support rod 405 (which may be made of, e.g.,metal, quartz, plastic, and/or a polymer) for absorbing mechanicalstresses may be disposed between the inner sleeve 403 and the outersleeve 404. FIGS. 4-10 show the inner sleeve 403, the outer sleeve 404,and the support rod 405 as being cut away in order to more clearlyillustrate the structure of the splice 400.

The splice 400 may also include a label 406 for identifying theparticular splice 400. In some embodiments of the present invention, thelabel 406 may be in the form of, but not limited to, one or more of thefollowing: a strip, foil, pad, sticker, thread, weave, engraving, raisedsurface feature such as braille, flag, tab, textured surface or object,hologram, electronic memory device such as a micro-chip, and/or anyother material, object, and/or device of any shape and/or size suitablefor bearing the splice indicium 407. The label 406 may be made of paper,plastic, metal, metal foil, a polymer, liquid, ink, and/or any othersuitable natural and/or man-made material. Any of the above features ofthe label 406 may be used to uniquely identify and distinguish betweenindividual splices and/or groups of splices.

The label 406 may be disposed at a variety of places in/on the splice400, such as on the outside of, or embedded within, the outer sleeve 404(as is shown in FIG. 4), between the inner sleeve 403 and the outersleeve 404, within (and/or part of) the inner sleeve 403, between theinner sleeve 403 and the optical fiber segments 401, 402, on or in thesupport rod 405, and/or otherwise embedded in the splice 400. Forexample, FIG. 5 shows the label 406 disposed on the inner sleeve 403between the inner sleeve 403 and the outer sleeve 404. In such aconfiguration (i.e., where the label 406 is not on the outside of theouter sleeve 404), the label 406 is protected from damage by at leastthe outer sleeve 404. Further, the label 406 may be in the form of asleeve, such as the outer sleeve 404 (indeed, the label may be the outersleeve 404).

The label 406 may be attached to and/or embedded in any portion of thesplice 400 (or other location near the splice) using an adhesive (suchas glue and/or epoxy). The adhesive may be separately added between thelabel 406 and the splice 400, or the adhesive may be part of thepre-made label (such as an adhesive-backed sticker or foil). If thesplice 400 is to be submerged in a liquid (e.g., in the ocean), theadhesive preferably should be a waterproof adhesive, and/or the label406 should preferably not be on the outside of the outer sleeve 404.

The label 406 might not be physically on, or part of, the splice 400 atall, but may be disposed near the splice on, e.g., an optical fibersegment 401 or 402. In general, the label 406 is considered near thesplice if it is physically proximate enough to be convenientlyidentified with the particular splice as opposed to other splices. Forexample, the label 406 may be disposed at the optical fiber segment 401within six inches of the splice, within two feet of the splice, orwithin ten feet of the splice, depending upon the physical environmentin which the splice is in. For example, a splice may be in a locationthat is not easily accessible (such as under water or in a closedcontainer). In such a case, it may be preferable to place the label 406at a location as near as possible to the splice, e.g., on the opticalfiber cable bearing the splice. Alternatively, the label 406 may bedisposed at a physical structure supporting, enclosing, and/or near tothe splice 400 and/or the optical fiber segment 401 or 402. Anotheralternative that may be preferably implemented when splices are noteasily accessible is to provide a map of the layout of the optical fibersystem, wherein the map is labeled, for each splice, with the sameinformation that would be on the label 406. What is important is thatthe label 406 or map information is configured and located so as toensure that the label 406 is associated only with a particular splice400 (or group of splices).

The label 406 may include a splice indicium 407 (or a plurality ofsplice indicia) that may uniquely identify the splice 400 so as todistinguish the splice 400 from other splices. The splice indicium 407may be or include, e.g., text, numbers, alphanumeric text, a symbol orsymbol combination, bar coding, a pattern, graphics, a shape, a picture,an image, a holographic image, a raised surface feature such as braille,a signature, a trademark, a color or color combination, a marking, anengraving, an icon, a texture, and/or data within an electronic memorydevice such as a micro-chip. As shown in FIG. 4, the exemplary spliceindicium 407 is a combination of alphanumeric text (“31B04”) and a barcode.

The splice indicium 407 may be disposed on the label 406, or it may beprinted and/or etched directly on/in the splice 400 itself (such as onthe outer sleeve 404, the inner sleeve 403, the support rod 405, and/orthe optical fiber segments 401 and/or 402) without any need for aseparate label 406. The splice indicium 407 may be unique for aparticular optical fiber system, use, application, location, owner,splice type, splice performance, wavelength of light being used, dateand/or time of manufacture and/or installation, splice manufacturer,splice customer, installation and/or purchase contract, and/or age ofthe splice 400. Further, each splice indicium 407 may be completelyunique for each splice amongst all splices that are identified by spliceindicia. Preferably, the splice indicia should be configured to allow alarge number of splices to be made without duplication of splice indicia(e.g., by using an alphanumeric number having a large number of digits,such as at least 5 alphanumeric digits, at least 10 alphanumeric digits,at least 1 million unique splice indicia, or at least 1 billion uniquesplice indicia).

Preferably, the label and splice indicium should be in bothhuman-readable (e.g., alphanumeric) and machine-readable (e.g.,bar-coded) format, such as is shown in FIG. 4. This configuration ofsplice indicium allows a person to both visually search for a particularsplice and to quickly input splice indicia into the data collectiondevice via, e.g., a bar code reader.

The particular embodiment, format, layout, style, and/or content of thelabel 406 and/or the splice indicium 407 may partially or completelydepend upon the use/application, location, owner, splice identity,splice type, splice performance, wavelength of light being used, dateand/or time of manufacture and/or installation, splice manufacturer,splice customer, installation and/or purchase contract, and/or age ofthe splice 400. For example, a particular embodiment, format, layout,style, other content of the label 406 and/or the splice indicium 407,and/or splice indicium prefix or suffix may be reserved only forgovernment use (e.g., a prefix of “31” such as is shown in the first twoindicia of FIG. 2 may indicate government use).

The label 406 and/or splice indicium 407 may include splice information.For example, the splice indicium 407 may include text, symbols, and/orother features indicating the estimated loss of the splice, the cleaveangle of the splice, the date/time of manufacture of the splice, theoperator who created the splice, the identity of the splicer thatcreated the splice (including the splicer's manufacturer serial number),the installation location of the splice, and/or any cross-referencedsplices.

Security is also a factor in deciding the configuration for a label 406and a splice indicium 407. It is preferable that the label 406 and/orthe splice indicium 407 be damaged or destroyed upon tampering with thesplice or the label (a “tamper-proof” label). For example, a holographicimage may be used a the splice indicium, and may be adhesively disposedbetween the inner sleeve 403 and the outer sleeve 404 such that when thesplice is opened, the holographic image is damaged or destroyed. Anyfeature of the indicium 407 may be holographic. For example, a serialnumber, alphanumeric test, and/or bar code may be holographicallyetched. Further, the hologram may be a trademark of the manufacturer,customer, and/or project in which the splice will be used. Such featuresdiscourage tampering with or sabotaging a splice, since suchunauthorized tampering would be apparent upon inspection of the splice.For similar reasons, it is preferable that the label 406 and/or thesplice indicium 407 be difficult to counterfeit in order to preventcreation of unauthorized and counterfeit labels.

In still further embodiments of the present invention such as is shownin FIG. 6, the label 406 may be and/or include an electronic memorydevice 601, such as a micro-chip having a memory, and/or other similarelectronic device. The electronic memory device 601 may store datarepresenting the splice indicium 407 (or plurality of splice indicia),and such data representing the splice indicium 407 may be electronicallydetectable using a type of device such as a well-known probe 602 forreading data from the memory of the electronic memory device 601. Theelectronic memory device 601 may be provided with memory capable ofstoring some or all of the data that may be stored in the data storagedevice 102 of the data collection system 100 and/or the data storagedevice 122. In such an arrangement, the electronic memory device 601 maytransmit some or all of the data stored in its memory responsive to anelectronic probe 602 activating the electronic memory device 601. Theelectronic memory device 601 may be disposed on or embedded in anyportion of the splice that the label 406 may be as described above.

In another arrangement, the electronic memory device 601 may also storethe splice data associated with the splice. For example, splice no.31B04 may have an electronic memory device 601 embedded within thesplice, the electronic memory device 601 having a memory containing theexemplary splice data for splice no. 31B04 as shown in FIG. 2. In suchembodiments, the data collection system 300 would not need to store thesplice data (although it may still be configured to do so), but insteadcould merely read the splice data via the electronic probe 602 anddisplay the data to the user. Such embodiments allow for an even moreportable data collection system 300, since the memory 305 and/or anyother storage device may be made even smaller.

Various types of devices are known that could be used as the electronicmemory device 601. For example, Dallas Semiconductor markets a DS1990A“Serial Number iButton.” Another example is the Dallas Semiconductor DS1996“64 Kbit Memory iButton.” Both of these products work with theDallas Semiconductor DS9092 “iButton Probe,” which may be used as theelectronic probe 602.

In still further embodiments of the present invention such as is shownin FIG. 7, the label 406 and/or the indicium 407 may be disposed at oneor more of the optical fiber segments 401, 402. For example, as shown inthe exemplary embodiment of FIG. 7, the label 406 bearing the indicium407 may be attached to the surface of optical fiber segment 402. FIG. 7also shows an exemplary embodiment of a splice location 701 where theoptical fiber segments 401, 402 are spliced together. As discussedabove, the label 406 and/or the indicium 407 may be located adjacent tothe splice, near the splice, and/or at any distance from the splice thatis appropriate for the particular use of the splice.

In still further embodiments of the present invention such as is shownin FIG. 8, the label 406 and/or the indicium 407 may be disposed at thesupport rod 405. For example, as shown in the exemplary embodiment ofFIG. 8, the label 406 bearing the indicium 407 may be attached to thesupport rod 405.

In still further embodiments of the present invention such as is shownin FIG. 9, the label 406 may be a sleeve. For example, as shown in theexemplary embodiment of FIG. 9, the label 406 may be the outer sleeve404. Alternatively, the label 406 may be the inner sleeve or any othersleeve.

In still further embodiments of the present invention such as is shownin FIG. 10, the splice 400 may be located within a sealed containerand/or in another location that is difficult to access. In suchembodiments, the label 406 and/or the indicium 407 may be disposed atanother location related to the splice 400, but preferably adjacent tothe splice 400. For example, as shown in the exemplary embodiment ofFIG. 10, the label 406 bearing the indicium 407 may be attached to theoutside of a container 1001 containing the splice 400.

When splices are identified using labels and/or splice indicia asdiscussed above, a user of the data collection system of the presentinvention may trace back the source of manufacture of a particularsplice, as well as other splice data. For example, a user who finds adefective splice that is installed in an optical fiber system maymanually read the splice indicium located on the defective splice(and/or read the splice indicium using, e.g., the bar code reader 301 orother input device 308), manually or automatically input the spliceindicium into the data collection system (e.g., data collection system300), and view splice data associated with and indexed by the spliceindicium. Thus, the user may view on the display 304 the splice imagedata to determine whether the splice was incorrectly manufactured orwhether the splice was later damaged. The user may further determine whocreated the splice, on what splicer the splice was created, when thesplice was created, the estimated optical loss of the splice, etc.

In further embodiments of the present invention, a user may utilize thedata collection system 100 and/or 300 to determine any related splicesthat are cross-referenced in the splice data. For example, referring tothe exemplary splice data shown in FIG. 2, the user may input splice no.23A17 into the data collection system, whereupon the data collectionsystem may output cross-reference splice nos. 23A15, 23A16, and 23A18.When the cross-referenced splice numbers are, e.g., on the same opticalfiber cable, such a method for using the data collection system canassist the user in troubleshooting splice problems. This is because theuser may be apprised of all of the splices on a particular faultyoptical fiber cable.

Thus, embodiments of the data collection system and theuniquely-identified splices as described above allows a user of thesystem to collect and store splice data and splice indicia during themanufacture of splices, and/or to provide accountability as to thesource of a particular splice and/or as to the cause of a defect in aparticular splice.

While exemplary systems and methods embodying the present invention areshown by way of example, it will be understood, of course, that theinvention is not limited to these embodiments. Modifications may be madeby those skilled in the art, particularly in light of the foregoingteachings. For example, each of the elements of the aforementionedembodiments may be utilized alone or in combination with elements of theother embodiments.

1-65. (canceled)
 66. A sleeve for protecting an optical fiber splice ina data collection system, the sleeve comprising: an outer sleeve; ahollow inner sleeve of a meltable adhesive material disposed inside ofsaid outer sleeve and configured for encircling a splice location; and alabel disposed inside said outer sleeve, the label bearing spliceindicia.
 67. The sleeve of claim 66, wherein the label is disposedbetween the inner sleeve and the outer sleeve.
 68. A sleeve forprotecting an optical fiber splice in a data collection system, thesleeve comprising: an outer sleeve; a hollow inner sleeve of a meltableadhesive material disposed inside of said outer sleeve and configuredfor encircling a splice location; and an indicium disposed within theouter sleeve and visually perceptible therethrough, wherein the indiciumcomprises at least one of alphanumeric text, a bar code, and a hologram.69. The sleeve of claim 68, wherein the indicium comprises bothalphanumeric text and the bar code.
 70. The sleeve of claim 68, whereinthe indicium comprises a plurality of alphanumeric digits of sufficientquantity to provide at least 1 million unique indicia.
 71. A sleeve forprotecting an optical fiber splice in a data collection system, thesleeve comprising: an outer sleeve; a stiffening member disposed insideof said outer sleeve and configured to reduce bending of the opticalfiber splice; and an indicium disposed within the outer sleeve.
 72. Thesleeve of claim 71, further comprising an adhesive, meltable innersleeve configured to encircle a splice location, wherein the outersleeve is heat-shrinkable.
 73. The sleeve of claim 71, wherein thestiffening member is an elongated rod.
 74. The sleeve of claim 71,further comprising a label disposed within the outer sleeve bearing theindicium.